Spellman wins it 'All for Joey'

Saturday

Mar 15, 2014 at 8:00 AMMar 17, 2014 at 11:50 AM

To chants of "All for Joey," Spellman defeats Tyngsboro on Saturday at the DCU Center in Worcester for the Division 3 state championship, an emotional victory capping a season dedicated to the school's late star Joey Glynn. The final was 61-51.

WORCESTER — With chants of “All for Joey” from the Cardinal Crazies, the team’s rabid band of fans, echoing through the DCU Center on Saturday, the Cardinal Spellman High School boys basketball team successfully completed its mission, taking the MIAA Division 3 state championship with a 61-51 victory over Tyngsboro.

Joey, of course, is 2012 graduate Joey Glynn, one of the program’s all-time greats, who died while playing basketball in a summer league game in Watertown last June.

The 2013-2014 team dedicated its season to Glynn.

“It just feels good to finally get a ring for Joey, for the team, for the coaches and for the fans,” said senior Ryan Roach, who scored 14 points and handed out eight assists in his final high school game. “It just feels good to bring it home.”

The Cardinals did that by scoring eight of the last nine points in the game to fend off a late threat by the Tigers.

The state title is the second in Mike Perry’s 35 years as head coach at Spellman, with the first one coming in 1984.

Read the play-by-play from our reporters on the Twitter feed below or watch it live on the NFHS Network.